Tilde Question-Mark-> Recursive Processing (ANSI and GNU Common Lisp Document)

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#### 22.3.7.6 Tilde Question-Mark: Recursive Processing

The next arg must be a format control, and the one after it a list; both are consumed by the `~?` directive. The two are processed as a control-string, with the elements of the list as the arguments. Once the recursive processing has been finished, the processing of the control string containing the `~?` directive is resumed. Example:

     (format nil "~? ~D" "<~A ~D>" '("Foo" 5) 7) ⇒  "<Foo 5> 7"
     (format nil "~? ~D" "<~A ~D>" '("Foo" 5 14) 7) ⇒  "<Foo 5> 7"

Note that in the second example three arguments are supplied to the format string `"<~A ~D>"`, but only two are processed and the third is therefore ignored.

With the `@` modifier, only one arg is directly consumed. The arg must be a string; it is processed as part of the control string as if it had appeared in place of the `~@?` construct, and any directives in the recursively processed control string may consume arguments of the control string containing the `~@?` directive. Example:

     (format nil "~@? ~D" "<~A ~D>" "Foo" 5 7) ⇒  "<Foo 5> 7"
     (format nil "~@? ~D" "<~A ~D>" "Foo" 5 14 7) ⇒  "<Foo 5> 14"